The Power of the Socratic Classroom

Listening as a Key to Teaching

When I think back to graduate school and my teaching courses, no one ever taught us about the importance of active listening. As a high school English teacher candidate, the focus was always on reading and writing, with conversations about grammar, spelling and vocabulary. There were side conversations about public speaking, but no mention of teaching listening as a skill, or practicing active listening for ourselves. Now more than 20 years into my career, I know the value of active listening. For me, it's one of the ways of connecting with students, building rapport with them, empathizing with them and everyone. And I mean powerful listening here, not just hearing or fake listening. I mean the deep and profound listening of one human being to another in a caring learning environment. Listening is a gift to others, a powerful gift. Just think about who you go to when you need to talk through something. Chances are they are one of the best listeners you know, someone you feel won’t judge you, for example. Words are carrier waves for energy and ideas. It’s the difference, for example, between saying something sarcastically or saying it genuinely. How can we, as teachers, truly know what is going on with our students if we don’t listen to them in meaningful ways? So many young people are in pain right now, likely more than ever in history, and we have a responsibility to at least listen to them with empathy and compassion.